US and NATO press allies for more trainers in Afghanistan

Allies should "dig deep" into their pockets to find more trainers for Afghanistan's army and police, NATO and United States top officials said Friday, at the end of a two-day meeting of the alliance's defence ministers, DPA reported.

"We will need more, a lot more," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists in Istanbul, explaining he urged nations "to dig deep and look at what they can do to staff the training mission, either from within their current contributions or,

if necessary, by sending more."

"More trainers are needed, and needed immediately. I pressed the alliance to meet the long-standing demand for thousands more instructors and mentors for the Afghan army and police," US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates added in a following press conference.

However, Rasmussen was at pains to acknowledge the efforts put in place so far by allies.

With 30,000 soldiers pledged by the United States and more than 9,000 coming from other allies, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan is set on receiving almost all the 40,000 troops its commander Stanley McChrystal asked for.

"Before you start writing that NATO asks for yet more troops let me say that is a real achievement and also testifies to NATO solidarity, commitment and capabilities," he stated.

NATO's chief said a display of ISAF's new-found resolve will come from the upcoming US and British-led offensive in Southern Afghanistan, a stronghold of the Taliban-led insurgency.

"You will see a demonstration of that capability in a series of operations led by Afghan forces and supported by NATO in central Helmand," Rasmussen said.

"It is about demonstrating to the Afghan people that they will now see new momentum ... we will succeed in Afghanistan," the former Danish prime minister concluded.